


bathroom

by storytellerdad



Series: life and times of ordinary folks [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 21:45:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3826153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storytellerdad/pseuds/storytellerdad





	bathroom

 

 

 

 

A long time ago, I think it was about 1950, we were living on a very small farm out behind the John Deere plant near Dubuque, Iowa. My father worked at the plant. We didn't have much of a farm, only a few chickens and a small garden. Mom took in some ironing but mostly tended the garden and my younger sister who was a little over a year old. The summer was pretty nice if you didn't know any better. Yeah it was hot and humid and lots of bugs but as far as we knew it was that way everywhere. But then came the fall. And with that dare I say it out loud? School. It was my first year and my older sister was saddled with getting me back and forth to the school. She is three years older than I so she was already well established in the school. That first year wasn't so bad. I could really embarrass her with some of my antics. It was a one room school and everyone knew I was her brother. The next year was different because they had divided the school room in half and added another teacher but that's another story. After that second year the man that owned our farm sold it and we had to move to town.

 

Living in town is so different than on a farm. One thing is there were neighbors and that meant others to play with. Also the school had a classroom for each grade. And the one thing that was most important, it had indoor plumbing. No more outhouses during the brutal Iowa winters. I don't know if you know it but Dubuque sits on the bank of the mighty Mississippi river. With all that water and as far north as we were winter was not looked forward too even with Christmas in the middle of it.

 

Another alleged convenience was the coal furnace in the basement. On the farm we basicly burned wood in a couple of stoves. Here we only had to have wood for the cook stove. Now my father knew how to bank the furnace at night and then fire it back up in the morning. But if you have ever crawled out from under a blanket, a couple of quilts, and a comforter on a cold winters morning and put those nice warm tootsies on what had to be an ice covered hardwood floor you know what I'm talking about. Of course you could wear socks to bed but really step out on that frozen condensation with socks on and you might as well be on skates. And if you think that's cold wait till your feet hit that shiny linoleum on the bathroom floor.

 

By now I am eight years old and everyone know just how smart eight year old’s are. If the adults would listen to us we could solve all the worlds problems without blowing it up first. Of course we did not know all the worlds problems. At that time we didn't have television (gasp). But now back to my cold floor situation. (get that? Cold floor not cold war?) As I mentioned my one sister was three years older than me. So I let her go to the bathroom first. I stay in bed an extra ten minutes. It gives the furnace time to start heating things and the Pill, the older sister, warms up the water to the bathroom but more importantly warms the toilet seat. See I am somewhat of a genius. This whole plan worked great for that winter. But you know when you get to be nine years old you start to get a little smarter.

 

My Mom bought me a pair of Slipper Socks for Christmas. These things had soles on the bottom so you didn't slip and slide on the cold floors. But the biggest lesson I learned was I didn't need the toilet seat warmed up. I stand up.


End file.
